Emily Monson (SR/Cheney, Kan.) and her Kansas Wesleyan teammates were determined not to let a loss dampen the celebration and festivities of Senior Night.
Down 20-14 in the fourth set against Kansas Conference foe Saint Mary the Coyotes mounted an improbable comeback with an 11-3 run that gave them a 25-23 victory and 3-1 conquest (19-25, 25-22, 25-12, 25-23) of the Spires on Saturday night inside Mabee Arena.
KWU improved to 8-3 in conference play (20-8 overall) and is fourth in the standings, half a game behind third-place Tabor and a game behind second place Ottawa. Saint Mary fell to fifth at 7-3 and is 18-9 overall. The Coyotes close the regular season with a match against Bethany on Wednesday in Lindsborg.
"We have such a great mentality this year, we don't get down, we know how to push back, we're mentally tough and just practicing (falling behind) every day in practice it doesn't faze us when we do," said Monson, the team's libero and one of the five seniors who were recognized during a pregame ceremony along with Ryann Kats (SR/Prairie View, Kan.), Mackenzie Pease (SR/Manhattan, Kan.), Haylie Rodriguez (SR/Salina, Kan.) and Samantha Rossin.
The Coyotes showed their resilience after dropping the first set too. Trailing 22-21 in the second set KWU scored the final four points, two on kills by Morgan Bryand (JR/Wichita, Kan.), who had a team-high 14 kills for the match.
The third set was all Coyotes. Leading 4-3 they took control with an 11-3 burst and never looked back.
Trailing 20-14 in the fourth set a Saint Mary service error started the comeback and KWU tallied five more with Josie Deckinger (SO/Wichita, Kan.) on the serve to tie it at 20. USM took a 21-20 lead but Bryand hammered home two more kills and a ballhandling error gave the Coyotes a 24-21 advantage.
Saint Mary made it interesting with two consecutive points to get within 24-23 but a Beckett kill ended the set and match.
"It feels really good," said Monson, who had 32 digs and three assists. "We were going up against some good competition and so it felt good for us to bounce back from that first set and really just play how we know how to play."
KWU had .136 hitting percentage while Saint Mary hit just .081 percent. Melinna Schumann (FR/Sabetha, Kan.) and Maddy Beckett (JR/Halstead, Kan.) added eight kills apiece for Wesleyan while Deckinger had 24 assists and Cortney Hanna (JR/Lawrence, Kan.) 11. Malia Mack (JR/Joplin, Mo.) was a terror at the net defensively with seven block assists while Pease had 12 digs.
"I told them that they know what we need to do and that we're stronger than them," assistant coach Kate Madsen said of the comeback.
"I trust this team 200 percent; I don't care who's on the court," Madsen added.
While the victory over Saint Mary was significant Monson said there's still much work to be done.
"This is a huge win and we just want to carry that into Wednesday and then into the (KCAC) tournament," she said. "I think this team can go far."